On my supposed isolationist “hillbilly” roots: the Nicholson family in Madison County, Va., part 3

First, I need to say, this has been a very fluid set of posts, and all are subject to modification at this point (the beauty of blogs… they aren’t really “set-hard in ink”). I started off writing this with an idea of where I might go, but, the further I dug into the content, I wasn’t so sure. I’ve come to realize, there’s a bigger story here than what I can really capture in a series of posts… and more than I would really want to try to capture in a blog. Still, I need to finish my “walk” down this trail, as far as I can take it, given the short amount of time and space…

In the wake of re-reading Pollock’s impression of the Nicholson family, I remained skeptical of what he wrote. I didn’t necessarily doubt the truthfulness, but I do wonder if the story was something that he wrote about immediately after, or in years after. I’ve also often wondered if he was being honest in his representation of the family… after all, I have those letters, poetry, and multiplication tables that suggest something else. Granted, my branch of the family had moved from Madison, across the mountain, just under the western slopes of the Blue Ridge, but my third great grandfather, Garnett, remained back in the hollow, along with the bulk of the family. Were they really as “backwoodsy” as Pollock portrayed?

A glimpse, east, into the hollows around the Hughes River. Photo taken from the Skyline Drive, near Hughes River Gap.

My suspicion isn’t baseless, especially when considering what appears to be Pollock’s long-term intent… or was it a developed intent over time? In either case, what you read in that account is part of the beginning of the end for the people who were later relocated (recalling a recent post, I could interject more, here, from that episode from the Waltons… “The Conflict”… but that might complicate things, and make this overly bulky. Watch it, if you can, and then revisit this story, to see how it compares), to make way for the Shenandoah National Park. Understand, however, it’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for the SNP… in fact, I love the place… but I find the beginnings rather shady. Consider this passage, on the second page of Pollock’s book, Skyland…

… it was that my father, George H. Pollock, told me about the 5,371 acre Stony Man Mountain Tract in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia… My father told me that he understands that native “mountaineers,” other “squatters” and Shenandoah Valley residents were helping themselves and selling to the tanneries of Luray and Sperryville large quantities of chestnut and oak tanbark from the Stony Man Tract. Finally, although the [copper] mine was worthless, my father suggested that the Tract might furnish excellent hunting and a visit to it on one of my collecting expeditions might be productive of financial returns.

Now, granted, Pollock’s work toward making the area a national park took time, but, I can’t help but wonder about all that he had in the back of his mind, in each and everything he did, in relation to the land, and the people there. As for the Nicholsons, following Pollock’s initial encounter with Aaron, in 1887, he doesn’t mention him again, until the fall of 1894.

Having set up a successful camp, over the years, Pollock, by this time, felt threatened by those who might “wrest” from him, the title of the Stony Man Tract. In fact, there were others, from outside the area, who were making claims on the land. Still, I clearly recall the division of the land, purchased (it appears) legally, in the 1790s, by the progenitor of the family, RevWar vet John Nicholson (remember part 1 of this series?). Who had real rights to the land?

At one point, Pollock offers the following, when challenged by a Judge Blakey, as to ownership…

Then I continued: “The only other person that I know of who pretends [cenantua’s note: take care in recognizing how Pollock used this word, suggesting that even he does not honor Aaron Nicholson’s claim on the land] to have claim on the property is Old Man Aaron Nicholson, the king of the squatters in this region. To really see the best portion of the Stony Man Tract, you will have to go down to where he lives in Nicholson Hollow and if you so desire, I will let my caretaker go along as a guide.”

The men then drew aside for a conference, saying nothing about coming into my building and seeming quite disturbed. At last, however, they started for Nicholson Hollow.

When they arrived there, Old Man Aaron asked the nature of their business and Judge Blakey spoke up: “Mr. Nicholson, I am showing these gentlemen the Stony Man Tract. They are thinking of purchasing it.” Then pausing, Judge Blakey said: “Who do you consider to be the owner of this land around here?”

Old Man Aaron’s face grew red with rage. By this time his three sons who loved in nearby cabins had joined him and thus backed, Aaron roared: “They hain’t no chance of you gettin’ any property here. This land belongs to me, as fur as you can see from peak to peak. [cenantua’s note: I think Aaron exceeded the limits of his real ownership in suggesting the “from peak to peak” thing, but…] It’s all mine!”

Judge Blakey then asked Old Man Aaron how he got title and the bellowed reply was: “I chopped the line around it myself, well nigh fifty years ago!”

Judge Blakey and his friends retired briskly, went home, and one week later Judge Blakey died from a severe case of pneumonia which he had contracted on the trip.

There’s really nothing further regarding exchanges with Aaron Nicholson, but Pollock does, at various points, mention the Nicholson family… even calling them intelligent… and yet, goes on to mention how he helped to establish a school in the hollow, for the benefit of the otherwise uneducated children there.

Enter the story of how Miriam Sizer came into the picture. Hired by Pollock to educate the children of the area, Sizer eventually brought in two sociologists who ended up asking her to study her students more carefully, and submit a report. This report remains rather controversial. Not only did it reek of the typical stereotypes of mountain people, but it also helped those who needed to justify the relocation of families, in the name of creating the national park. Today, as part of the Shenandoah National Park’s exhibit at Big Meadows, this is discussed further.

Close-up of the display panel in the exhibit at Big Meadows Visitor Center, further describing Sizer and her controversial report

Mandel Sherman, one of the sociologists who had tasked Sizer with writing the report, was responsible for the book, Hollow Folk, which was instrumental in justifying the relocation of the families…

One of the Park Service's displays suggesting evidence that Sizer, Sherman, and the book weren't exactly truthful...

The voices of those who knew better... those who would be impacted. These two pieces are also on a panel within the Big Meadows Visitor Center, and both were written by Nicholson family members...

While some, such as Russ Nicholson, son of Aaron, were given life-rights to properties, the Franklin Roosevelt Administration (the third and last administration that was involved in bringing about the park) finally put an end to the uncertainty for families… relocation became a reality. The Administration created seven communities for relocation… one of them being Ida, near where my Nicholson (the James Jordan Nicholson family) line had already relocated, some 50 years before.

Russ Nicholson, in 1935

A grandson of Aaron Nicholson, John T. Nicholson… son of Russ… wrote a poem about the relocation, in an effort to describe his 73-year-old father’s heartbreak at the thought. The 28-stanza dirge was published in the June 1, 1934, edition of a local newspaper, the Madison County Eagle. An article later written, in 1997 (the article was, it seems, titled appropriately… “Appalachian Trail of Tears“), described the piece such… “If it hardly qualifies as a work of art, the lamentation has a melancholy that Wordsworth, the great elegist of 18th-century rural England, would have recognized”:

In the old mountain home,

For six months more,

Where then shall I go,

Down in the valley,

To perish and to die.

It must be awful, you know,

Some who left, wept and mourned,

And said in words so sad,

I would rather go to my grave

Than to leave my mountain home.

Sad the thought to leave

A garden spot of paradise,

When one is old and feeble,

And cannot work any more,

Life will not be worth living,

When planted in the valley,

Where everything is different,

To the seeing and the hearing.

Now when the angels come

To take my soul to rest,

Hope they will find it in the park.

Then the old will be out of the way

While the park is progressing,

When the people out of the cities

Come to see the beauties of the park.

As it so happens, further evidence of wrongful stereotyping surfaced in the archeological digs conducted in the latter 1990s, following a forest fire that cleared much of the old hollows. While Pollock mentioned that the Aaron Nicholson family was unfamiliar with cameras, artifacts dug in the hollows indicate that the families there were exposed to more than Pollock realized… or, was it that they were exposed to more after Pollock’s initial contact in 1887? I think the latter, but, keep in mind that justification for removal took place in the early 1930s. At the time of relocation, were the families, in fact, being modernized, and was relocation, in the name of better lives, at that point, really necessary, or was it simply to complete the process to make the national park possible?

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation partnered with the National Park Service in the archeological digs. These artifacts were found in Corbin, Nicholson , and Weakley hollows, and demonstrate more exposure to the outside world than taken into account by Sizer... and yes, that is a ray gun that you see in the case on the left. At the end of this post, please take the time to follow links to two articles by Audrey J. Horning, who was a major contributor to more recent knowledge of the hollows, in the wake of the archeological digs.

I suppose I’ve strayed a bit from the title of these posts, and need to return to the question… do I have “hillbilly” roots? Primitive? Yes, I suppose to some degree, but compared to what? To that with which Pollock was familiar? I’m sure. After all, he had grown-up in the suburbs of Boston, and had gone to school at the Allen Brothers’ English and Classical School, in West Newton, Massachusetts. In fact, he had even called Luray, Virginia… the county seat of Page… a “very primitive and undeveloped” town. To him, I’m sure the Nicholson family was backwards… although he also referred to them as “intelligent”… I suppose that was when compared to those later referred to as the “poster children” of the stereotype that did, indeed, live in the Hughes River hollows. Isolationist? Perhaps, but maybe because they didn’t need the outside world, and learned to become happy with their own self-sufficiency.

In reflection on these people of the mountains and hollows, I’m quite pleased to have such roots. While some scramble to find ancestral connections to people of fame and high refinement, to me, these people are just as significant, if not, in fact, more accomplished. They add a spirit of character that not everyone appreciates. They cut out a living from what, to some, may have seemed the impossible… and, from the way I understand it, a better one than that portrayed by people like Pollock and Sizer. While their graves, in both the hollows of Madison and Page, are marked with nothing more than field stones, I don’t believe this a reflection of who they were, and what they did in life… but then again, maybe it does. Maybe it was a lack of funds to purchase stones, but, perhaps it is also a reflection of an unpretentious nature. They learned what they needed to know, in schools and on the rocky fields that made up their farms, and they survived, living what appears to have been a good life among kin and friends.

The James Jordan Nicholson family... JJN was the son of Garnett, and a nephew of the Aaron Nicholson with whom Pollock spoke. Neither James, nor his wife, Polly, have headstones to mark their graves, but... their ability to express themselves, in poetry, such as the piece shown below

The first page from a poem honoring Sudie Victoria Nicholson, one of James Jordan Nicholson's daughter. She died in 1897, just months after turning eighteen. One of her siblings wrote this, perhaps my great grandmother.

I share the ambivalence about the national parks. They’re beautiful… but, IMO, totally unconstitutional.

One of the things I learned digging around the genealogy is that there was a lot of in-breeding among the tide-water set (and the Philadelphia Quakers, and the Boston Brahims according to Fischer), but quite a few of the children of the people who moved into the Valley, moved west and scattered by 1810. However, their culture was different from the others, and I believe it’s the subtle and not so subtle differences in their culture that their detractors oppose. Wishing not to be over-crowded others see as “isolationist”.

Ironically, it’s the same culture which created Princeton, Hampden-Sidney and numerous other universities. Maybe it comes down to beliefs about poverty and power.

As for “in-breeding”, I think one needs to step back and realize the difference, culturally, between now, and earlier times. There was a different mindset in, say, the 18th century, whether that be marrying within family circles, or marrying at younger ages (to such a point that would be unacceptable by law today… first cousins marrying, or taking wives that were under the age of 17). Understand, I’m not advocating this, but looking at this outside the scope of our modern mentality. Not only may this have carried down as far as the early 20th century among cultures that were literally isolated, but physical isolation (in the hollows, for example) set-up scenarios that limited the selection of spouses.

Isolationism among the people of the Madison County hollows can, in some ways, be attributed more to geography. The three major hollows were Nicholson, Corbin, and Weakley. These three families were typically those that intermarried, regularly, but not always. As I pointed out in the first part of this short series, while I am descended from three brothers of John Nicholson, my line also married with the Sandy and Dodson families, who, at that time, were within that geography. In the latter 19th century, I see the same in the Nicholson families that remained… marriages continued in the Nicholson and Corbin circles, in particular, but also included others, such as people from the Cubbage family. It’s not that they didn’t have outside contact, because they did, but, when you live in a certain circle on a daily basis, I think a particular culture develops… not only one that tends to have intermarrying, but finds a self-sufficiency that can become quite suspicious of anyone outside that circle.

Awesome post, Robert. Thank you. For a number of years as a kid, my favorite book was Pollock’s richly illustrated interview/memoir, Skyland. I was enthralled by its photos of the Nicholsons and other local families, and of 1890s city slickers amid the hemlock-shaded architecture of a classic rustic resort. To this day, one of my fave historical pix is that of Fletcher “the Outlaw” and his son Johnny, with the understated caption about Pollock’s beatdown at their hands (advance payment on the stereotyping?). Later, I began learning to recognize the stereotypes and self-promotions that accompanied Pollock’s book. But his sense of the deep beauty of the Blue Ridge and its many stories remained a constant messsage, refined as I hiked SNP with my dad and began reading more nuanced studies like Dr. Horning’s and Darwin Lambert’s. And it’s totally cool to see their historical takes joined by those of a Nicholson. Noel H.

Thanks for your comment, Noel. I think one of the ironies in this story is that my grandmother… whose mother was a Nicholson… gave me a copy of Pollock’s book. She noted a connection to the Nicholson’s in the book, but showed anything but resentto the SNP. She loves picnics on the mountain. Anyway, it was years before I realized the bigger story, and just how closely I am related to those mentioned in Pollock’s accounts. In fact, through my grandmother’s father, I’m related to the Skyland liveryman, Milt Emerson, whom Pollock mentions. He was my gg grandfather Emerson’s youngest brother.

Robert, I think Pop and I once did a loop Corbin Cabin Cutoff trail-(upper) Nicholson Hollow Trail-Skyline Drive-back to parking. Our only visit to the end of Nethers Rd. was to hike Old Rag. Incidentally, I was reminiscing with a friend just yesterday about how years ago I had assumed (and hoped) that the mountain referenced in Poe’s “A Night on Old Raggedy” was the future SNP one, whereas it’s actually the Ragged Mt. outside CVille. (If memory serves, my other disappointment with his story was how quickly it got psychedelic–Porte Crayon tunes in and drops out–as opposed to giving us a potentially way-cool, antebellum description of the central Virginia landscape.)

Thank you Robert for writing such a great post. I have so enjoyed reading it! I too, I’m quite pleased to have such roots. My Great Grandfather was Benjamin Robert Nicholson, son of James Jordan Nicholson, so I guess that makes us kin. I have a picture on my dining room wall of Benjamin Nicholson as a young man with his four small children, one being my Grandfather, Cecil Nicholson. According to my Grandfather, the picture was taken in Nicholson Hollow where he was born. He and his family moved off the mountain when he was about eight years old, which would be 1919. I would love to send you a copy. Thanks again! Amy Nicholson Goddard

No, we have never been in touch before. I just happened upon your blog last night while doing a search for Nicholson Hollow. So glad I did! You’ve really got me thinking!

I didn’t realize that James Jordan had moved off the mountain. It makes me wonder if indeed my grandfather was even born on the mountain. I wonder if his father, Benjamin Robert stayed and start a family of his own or did he move back to the hollow, or maybe he never lived there at all. I can’t find any info on the census, maybe you could point me in the right direction.

Also, I was wondering if you knew the names of all the people in the James Jordan Nicholson family photo. My dad and I have been trying to figure out which one looks most like his grandfather, but we can’t seem to agree on who that would be.

I think the marriage record (with Mamie Woodward) shows that Benjamin was born in Page County. In fact, I’m of the opinion that older brother Charles (born in 1881) was the first one of the line of siblings born in Page. They lived deep in Ida Hollow in Page. Also, the Woodward family was in that hollow in Page. I just walked one of the Woodward cemeteries there, just a few weeks ago.

I appreciate you putting that photo on the find-a-grave page. That’s a perfect place for it, and it’s just as good as a scan sent to me, as I created the page for BRN earlier this month. I wanted to connect all the children of James Jordan Nicholson, and with the exception of one page developed by someone else, all the children are now listed on the page.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know the identity of everyone in that photo of the James Jordan Nicholson family. Fortunately, I can positively ident James Jordan and Polly… because my grandmother indicated that they were her grandparents. I think that the couple in the back left are my grandparents, before they married (Edward & Mamie Nicholson Emerson). I thought that the young woman on the far right might be Lelia, and her hand, perhaps, resting on the shoulder of her husband, Noah Miller… and the child in front of her being theirs… but I don’t have a list of their children and can’t be certain. The other children in the photo are, at my best guess, all James & Polly’s grandchildren… though I can’t figure out to whom they belong in the photo.

Do you have any obituaries for Benjamin Robert and his family? Would love to put it all together in the Find-a-Grave pages.

I’m working on getting some more info together for you about Benjamin Robert and his family. I know that he is buried at Oakdale Baptist church in Nokesville and I know that my great uncle Early is buried that also.

I will hopefully get more info soon. In the mean time, I would love it if you could email me. BfoMoment@hughes.net I would love to send you the pictures that I have of my family and I would love to pick your brain more!

My name is Craig Walker Nichols, Son of Clarence Walker Nichols, son of Harvey Walker Nichols of the corbin Cabin, son of Louis Albert Nichols, a decendent of Garnett Nicholson. I would love to see if you have additional family information.

Great work! Good read. Here is my connection. Thanks for posting your article.
Aaron Nicholson 1832-1911
J.Howard Nicholson (son of Aaron)
Ada Belle Nicholson(daughter of J. Howard)
married to Thomas Jackson Printz
Temprest Aline Printz
married to James Franklin Young
Cletus Franklin Young
married to Ruby Moore
Larry Young (Dad)
married to Susan P.(Mom)
Ryan Young(Me)

Robert my name is Rebecca Moreland maiden name Nicholson. I am trying to figure out where Aaron falls into my family line, do you have anymore family history of his line of the family? I do know my family grew up in Nicholson Hollow. I love your blog I have been researching my family for some years now, I have Nicholsons, corbins, spitlers and on and on. It becomes overwhelming at times there are so many of them. Any info you have would be appreciated

I am a descendent of Aaron and Russ Nicholson myself. My father Luther is Hilton Nicholson’s son. My father grew up in Madison County and I have family in Luray (where I am from) and Madison and Culpeper. I was wondering if you had come across a condition called Hereditary Ataxia that has plagued our branch of the Nicholsons.

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as interesting as your blog. I too am a descendent of the Nicholson’s (or Nichols from my part of the world) and have just really started researching them in depth. I wonder if you can tell me anything about Chrisley Arnold Nicholson, son of Christian “Chrisley” Nicholson and Elizabeth Jenkins. I know he had two wives, Fannie and Louisa Nicholson, with Fannie being my 2nd g-grandmother, their daughter Jessie Belle Nichols being my g-grandmother. I know they went to PA for whatever reason, but then turned around and went back to Madison Co, although Jessie stayed in PA and married John Wilson Stull. I don’t know exactly when any of them were born, except Jessie, and I don’t know where they’re buried. Anything personal you could add would be very exciting. Thank you in advance.

Loved reading this ….I to come from this line of Nicholson’s. Garrett Nicholson was my great great grandfather. My grandparents were second cousins so one of Garrett ‘s brothers was my other great great grandfather. sad how they treated our family.
Linda in SC.

Sad to say but, Clarence W. Nichols(on), (77) was put to rest in Madison County November 16 2012, he was the son of Harvey Walker Nichols(on), Grandson of Lewis Albert Nicholson and GGrandson of Alexander Nicholson.

Does Edmund or Neva Nicholson ring a bell? I am related to them, though I am directly descended from the Weakley’s and the Backe’s in the Madison and Culpeper, Va area and they were there since before the Revolutionary War. Any input would be appreciated.,, Thanks

Neva Nicholson was married to my Great Grandfather Hubert Silas Weakley. They had 13 children I think and then Neva passed away and Hubert Married Lizzie Parks. They had 9 children with my Grandmother being one. I have a picture of Hubert and Neva together if you would like for me to send it to you.

Thank you for all of this history research and blogging! Here is my linage: Aaron N.> John “Russ” N. > Albert N.> Hysel N. Sr. > Irene Nicholson (the 5th of 9 children) I had hoped to meet you as you were just here in the WV. Panhandle, where I now live. My brothers are all still in Madison and we love hiking to Corbin Cabin in Nicholson Hollow. My new home here is much like the Hollow and I think often of how independent, hardworking and resourceful they must have been. Thank you, also, for the respect you show for your Followers and your Forefathers.

Please contact me- I may be related as well. Too much info to post here, but I can share more in a PM.
I am doing a genealogy search and have hit a brick wall in Culpeper County, Va.
Can you help me?hiswings91@gmail.com
Thanks,
Michelle

Thank you so very much for making yourself known. I am a descendant of Garnet – James Jordan m Mary Polly Richards – son Edward m Mary Della Smith – son Andrew J. is my father. I have been “searching” for hours today and just happened onto your site. I am so excited. I have SCA6 an inherited ataxia disorder from my father and my grandfather, Edward. Do you know of any others who have this disorder. This particular type doesn’t affect a person until age 62. Anxious to hear from you – just email.

SCA6 is one of many types of inherited ataxia diagnosed using DNA. It affects the gait, balance, and speech. Symptoms do not appear until age 62 and progresses very slowly. I am 83 now and my speech is deteriorating and no balance – must walk with a rollator/walker. Does anyone know of others with these symptoms? Let me know: hutcd@comcast.net

I just found your site from searching for family members. My great grandmother Effie Mae Nicholson Payne was the oldest daughter of Lester J & Martha Daisy Nicholson and Lester was the son of James Jordon & Polly Ann Nicholson. I haven’t gotten any further on the Nicholson side because I end up going crossed eyed by so many with the same or similar name :) My great grandmother Effie Mae was the sweetest woman I’ve ever known and I enjoyed spending time with her and going to church with her growing up. Thank you for your blog I enjoyed reading about the Nicholson’s and remembering my great grandmother. Toodles,,,^..^,,,Melissa

Thanks for your comment, Melissa! This has become a great spot for Nicholson kin to comment. I love hearing about what James Jordan and Polly Ann’s children were like and where all of the descendants have ended up.

Hello, My name is Christina Walk. I loved reading your post. I descend from the Weakley line. My Grandmother is Frances Weakley, who’s parents were Hubert Silas Weakley and Lizzie Parks. Hubert married twice with his first wife being Neva Nicholson. They had 13 children I think, and then Hubert married Lizzie Parks, daughter of Eddie Houston Parks and Lucy Nicholson. Hubert and Lizzie had 9 children with my Grandmother being one. I have been researching the Weakley line for some time now and am not having a lot of luck. I am also trying to find anything on Lizzie Parks, being that she is my Great Grandmother. I know that I am related to the Nicholson line as well because James “Marshall” Nicholson was my 3rd great grandfather. Do you have any information on the Weakley’s? or do you know if any of the books mentioned has any pictures of the Weakley families? I appreciate all your help! and look forward to hearing from you. Keep up the good work!

[…] have fit the images of Madison County hollow folk painted by George Freeman Pollock, and especially Miriam Sizer… although, as I’ve pointed out, it didn’t necessarily apply to all over in those […]